The newly formed Eswatini Skills Committee which includes officials from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MoLSS) and the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) together with Taiwan Technical Mission’s Technical and Vocational Skills Certification Enhancement Project officers attended the South African national WorldSkills Competitions at the Durban International Convention Centre. The competitions started on January 31, 2024 and ended on February 04^th, 2024 and comprised of a conference and career festival.  The visit was funded by the Taiwan Technical Mission’s Technical and Vocational Skills Certification Enhancement Project.

The theme for National WorldSkills Competition and career festival was “Skills Changes Lives” and the event was opened by the Deputy Minister for Higher Education, Science and Innovation Mr. Buti Manamela who on his opening remarks, acknowledged the presence of the Eswatini delegation. The Taiwan Technical Mission’s Technical and Vocational Skills Certification Enhancement Project Manager Mr. Baron Wang pointed out that the purpose for the visit was mainly to benchmark since they anticipate Eswatini to hold the first National Skills Competitions in October 2024 in no more than 3 skills. He said that the project had in past months, assessed different workshops/laboratories at Manzini Industrial Training Centre, Mpaka Vocational Training Centre, Nhlangano Industrial Training Centre, Siteki Industrial Training Centre and, with consultation with Workforce Development Agency in Taiwan, the assessment reports recommends that Eswatini can be better suited to begin with skills competition in welding, motor vehicle mechanic, cooking and baking. The recommendation is supported by the equipment availability in the workshops.

The national WorldSkills competitions in South Africa had 22 categories including bricklaying, bakery, cooking, restaurant services, electrical installation, car painting, beauty therapy, robotics etc with over 200 competitors selected from the nine provinces. In total, South Africa competes internationally in 24 skills of the 64 that the WorldSkills International currently offers. In the SA National Competition, 2 skills being water technology and aircraft maintenance were yet to be conducted off-site due to the challenges of moving and setting up equipment at the Durban Exhibition Centre. The winners in the National Competition are to represent South Africa in the WorldSkills International competitions to be held in Lyon, France in September 2024. Two winners in each skill of the 24 categories will undergo a vigorous 8 months training until the date of the competitions in France.

WorldSkills Competitions are open to people between the ages 18 and 22 years but for a few skills like robotics and aircraft maintenance, the age limit is increased to 25 years. The purpose of the WorldSkills Competitions is to establish the value of skills and to encourage young people to participate in vocational education and vocational training. Young people who shine at the national WorldSkills Competitions have good stories to tell and at the WorldSkills Conference at Durban ICC; three Alumni for WorldSkills South Africa shared to the delegates how the competition positively changed their lives.

The Eswatini delegation witnessed the high level of professionalism among the competitors within the different categories and further took note on how the competitions are conducted including the venue set up. The delegation could not ignore the cooperation between Industry and the Department of Higher Education and Training in promoting TVET skills and supporting the competitions. The Eswatini delegation was also introduced to Dr. Nkosinathi Sishi, the Director General for the Department of Higher Education and Training who expressed that his department would be happy to assist Eswatini shape their TVET sector to meet economic development needs.

While the delegation was still at the WorldSkills Competition at Durban ICC, part of them skipped one day and visited Shukela Training Centre which is an institution of choice to a number of local companies especially the sugar belt. The purpose of visiting at Shukela Training Centre was to benchmark on their mechanical fitting and instrumentation workshop. The TVET Project intends to do a procurement for mechanical fitting equipment for ECOT during this current year and the ECOT mechanical department was exposed at the Shukela Training Centre workshop so that it can make informed choices on the upcoming equipment procurement. The project will further make another procurement early next year for instrumentation equipment. The Directorate of Industrial and Vocational Training (DIVT) also intends to conduct trade tests for instrumentations in the near future as per industry demands.

The head of the Eswatini delegation Ms. Matsidiso Tfwala expressed her appreciation to the Director General Dr. Sishi and WorldSkills South Africa Management for the hospitality, much needed exposure and the exchange of contacts for further engagements. She also expressed thanks to the Government of Eswatini for approving their benchmarking visit and the Government of the Republic of Taiwan for funding the visit. She believes that introducing the skills competitions to the youth is in line with the King’s vision in addressing youth unemployment.